The Truth About Cars » E85

Department of Energy in Hot Water Over Electric Vehicle Love

Robert Farago — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:51:27 +0000

Let us begin with the money shot, courtesy BiofuelsDigest. “If it were up to me, I would put every cent into electric cars.” That would be the US Secretary of Energy, Dr. Steven Ch, at a meeting on alternative fuels, according to “a source present at the meeting.” As a part of an administration whose [...]

Canadian Memo: E85 No Greener Than E10

Dustin Stockton — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:04:49 +0000

Our friendly neighbors to the north are starting to cope with a difficult and embarrassing reality. Canada.com reports on a briefing note prepared for Canadian Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt warning that hundreds of millions of dollars spent subsidizing e85 Flex Fuel technology have been a colossal failure. Not the least of which is [...]

E85 Boondoggle Of The Day: Corn Ethanol Justified By POETic License

Edward Niedermeyer — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:24:19 +0000

The EPA’s goal of encouraging production of 100m gallons per year (gpy) of cellulosic (i.e. non-corn-based) took a bit of a hit recently, when it was found that the firm responsible for producing 70m gpy was actually showing investors petroleum-based fuels and lying about its production capacity. Whoops! But instead of drawing the conclusion that [...]

E85 Boondoggle of the Day: Automakers Kinda Heart E20

Robert Farago — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:34:41 +0000

More than a year ago, the ethanol industry hit the “blend wall”: the difference between what they could produce and what the market wanted to use. This despite billions in tax credits: direct and indirect federal and state subsidies. All enabled by a federal mandate mandating that the ethanol boys brew nine billion gallons of [...]

E85 Boondoggle of the Day: Meloncholy, Baby

Frank Williams — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:37:51 +0000

E85 Boondoggle of the Day: E85’s Future Still Up in the Air

Robert Farago — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:20:06 +0000

The E85 industry has a problem. Well, a bunch of problems: corn prices, water supplies, environmental impact, flagging political support for subsidies, limited access to the marketplace and profitability. Yes, there is that. Or, more precisely, there isn’t that. If only the feds could find a way to force the country to use the corn [...]

E85 Boondoggle of the Day: $5.5 Million DOE Grants for the SOS

Robert Farago — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:46:22 +0000

Now that the Department of Energy (DOE) has doled out some $25 billion to help automakers retool taxpayers—I mean, retrofit factories to build incrementally more fuel efficient vehicles than the ones built at the same locations previously—the agency is continuing its cash for anything environmental program. Our old friend E85 is the beneficiary of a [...]

E85 Boondoggle of the Day: 2100 Gallons of Water Per Gallon of E85?

David Holzman — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:00:24 +0000

Corn-based ethanol took another blow from the scientific literature this week. University of Minnesota scientists published an article revealing that corn into E85 could require three times as much water as previously estimated. The bottom line: it takes more than 2,100 gallons of water to produce a single gallon of ethanol. That’s bad news for [...]

E85 Boondoggle of the Day: Peak Oil is Food for Fuel’s Friend

Robert Farago — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:34:38 +0000

E85 Boondoggle Of The Day: Second Generation Fraud

Edward Niedermeyer — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:08:50 +0000

Edmunds Inside Line reports that Alabama-based Cello Energy, which was supposed to produce 70 percent of the EPA’s 100m gallon/year cellulosic ethanol goal, has been convicted of fraud. A jury has awarded over $10m in damages to investors after witnesses testified that Cello’s supposedly biomass-derived fuel was actually petroleum based. Furthermore, it turns out that [...]

E85 Boondoggle of the Day: Nebraska’s Parallel E85 Universe

Robert Farago — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:54:40 +0000

From the High Plains Journal: Nationally, gas prices have risen nearly every day for the past 42 days. Some analysts expect that a return to $100 oil–and $4 gas–isn’t far behind. But Nebraska drivers are already saving money by filling up with E10. “Nebraska drivers have already saved over $4.5 million in 2009 by buying E10,” said [...]

E85 Boondoggle of the Day: Blenders’ Last Stand

Robert Farago — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:25:10 +0000

The E85 industry is tanking. Despite federal mandates designed to foist the fuel on a suspecting public, and Transportation Secretary Chu’s determination to make all new vehicles Flex-Fuel capable (EPA credits for everyone!), the E85 industry is on the brink of extinction. Consumer demand (such as it wasn’t) is plummeting. Meanwhile, environmentalists threaten to expose [...]

E85 Boondoggle of the Day: Caution. Worst. Video. Ever.

Robert Farago — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:45:19 +0000

One wonders how many entries the Renewable Fuels Association received for their “online ethanol contest” designed to “get a new generation of Americans, mainly college students, engaged in the promotion and support of ethanol.” Domesticfuel.com claims that this video was chosen by “thousands of people across the country.” Oh, wait! “From there, a panel of judges [...]

E85 Boondoggle of the Day: All Ethanol, All the Time

Edward Niedermeyer — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:52:02 +0000

Energy Secretary Steven Chu gave a speech in Des Moines, Iowa, yesterday in which he argued that all cars sold in America should be E85 capable. “I’ve been told it costs about $100 in gaskets and fuel lines to turn a car so that it can go all the way to E85,” Chu is quoted [...]

E85 Boondoggle of the Day: E85 Exempt from EPA CO2 Ruling. Still.

Robert Farago — Thu, 21 May 2009 01:52:15 +0000

“Congress already made sure corn ethanol was protected from any scientific assessment of its impact on the environment when it passed the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act. Buried in the law are provisions that exempt every gallon of corn ethanol from the requirement to reduce greenhouse gases that all other biofuels have to meet [...]

Ethanol Bankruptcies Continue Apace

Edward Niedermeyer — Wed, 20 May 2009 19:09:05 +0000

Despite Obama’s clear support for ethanol, refineries continue to drop like flies. UPI reports that four Pacific Ethanol Inc subisdiary refineries have filed bankruptcy documents in Delaware. High corn prices and low fuel prices continue to kill the market for ethanol (such as it is); apparently the evil grocery lobby is still hard at work. [...]

E85 Boondoggle of the Day: Resurrection

Edward Niedermeyer — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:34:28 +0000

President Obama gave the dying ethanol industry a huge shot in the arm Tuesday when he announced that over $780 million of stimulus money will be spent on biofuel “research and commercialization,” guided by an all-new Biofuels Interagency Working Group. Think of a giant, government-funded R&D/marketing department for the ethanol industry, and you’ll have some idea [...]

E85 Boondoggle Of The Day: Comment?

Edward Niedermeyer — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:38:35 +0000

The EPA is currently soliciting comment on a proposed waiver to allow 15 percent ethanol blends (E15), and despite enduring a year of hard knocks, the ethanol lobby is making a desperate stand to reverse its declining fortunes. Peruse already-submitted comments, and you’ll notice that Growth Energy (the new K-Street tip of the ethanol spear) [...]

E85 Boondoggle of the Day: MN Auditor: “Stop the Subsidies”

Robert Farago — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 21:11:32 +0000

It’s been a while since we’ve run an E85 BOTD. The big news on the corn-for-fuel front: the E85 lobby is pressuring the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to allow states to raise the minimum required amount of ethanol from 10 to 15 percent. For some reason, Agweek seems to think ethanol producers haven’t yet hit [...]

E85 Boondoggle of the Day: Water, Water, Everywhere

Jeff Puthuff — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:38:35 +0000

Two recent developments have tarnished whatever green reputation ethanol has left. First, the news that corn-derived ethanol requires up to three times more water to produce than previously thought has cast a spotlight on the industry, especially in the dry west and southwest. A new study published by the American Chemical Society reports that previous [...]

E85 Boondoggle Of The Day: Mandatory Flexibility

Edward Niedermeyer — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:20:35 +0000

Green Car Congress reports that an “Open Fuel Standards Act” has been introduced which would require half of all light duty vehicles sold in the US to be flex-fuel capable. The legislation would ramp up requirements to mandate 80 percent flex-fuel capability by 2015. Since ethanol has been running into trouble of late, the industry’s [...]

E85 Boondoggle Of The Day: What’s Good For Ethanol Is Good For GM Is Good For America

Edward Niedermeyer — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:16:41 +0000

This time the bearer of good news is retired General Wesley Clark and his “Growth Energy” K-Street advocacy group. The special K says increasing the ethanol blend limit to E15 could create 136,101 new jobs and inject $24.4b into the US economy annually. How? According to the firm’s appalling report, bumping the federal blending mandate [...]

E85 Fatwa Of The Day: It’s A Sin!

Edward Niedermeyer — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:00:06 +0000

Sheikh Mohamed Al-Najimi of the Saudi Islamic Jurisprudence Academy has advised the Muslim community (via Al Arabiya) that burning ethanol and other alcohol fuels could be a sin. Al-Najimi said that ethanol runs afoul of the Prophet Mohammed’s ban on the sale, consumption, processing, and handling of all forms of alcohol. He does stress that [...]

Europe Preparing Duties On US Biofuel

Edward Niedermeyer — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:54:46 +0000

The New York Times reports that the European Union is drafting trade duties on imported American biofuels to protect its own $10b biofuel industry. Even though both the US and the EU subsidize biofuels, European producers complain that American producers benefit from production subsidies in the US and retail subsidies in Europe. The EU has [...]

E85 Boondoggle of the Day: E20, E30

Robert Farago — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:37:18 +0000

We’ve pointed it out before: the ethanol industry has a cunning plan to breach the “blend wall” (a.k.a. the fact that American customers don’t want E85). While they’re waiting, hoping and praying for a Titanoboa cerrejonensi-sized gas price spike, they’re planning on using their political leverage to “offer” (i.e., force) motorists E20 and E30 ethanol blends. [...]